QUETTA, Jan 8: The security has been beefed up in and around Sui gasfield and gas purification plant area with more members of the Frontier Corps taking up positions in the area , following last night's heavy gunbattle between armed men and law-enforcement agencies.

The situation in Sui township remained tense as most of the shops and bazaars remained closed on Saturday. The roads linking the gasfield and the main plant area were sealed by security forces by putting barricades and movement of outsiders had been banned.

The official sources said that nine people, including two women, were admitted to the Sui hospital who were wounded in last night's gunbattle. The condition of two injured people was stated to be serious as they had been hit by rocket splinters.

Many houses were also damaged in the exchange of fire. The clash also killed a large number of cattle as a few rockets and mortars also Hit residential areas.

"One house and a hotel were completely destroyed in the rocket attacks," a senior police officer told this correspondent by phone from the Sui area. Meanwhile, engineers of the Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) have started repairing gas pipeline that got damaged in the rocket attack last night.

According to sources a portion of the pipeline had been badly damaged, causing A huge fire in the pipeline. However, the authorities concerned of the PPL plant in Sui claim to have immediately closed down the gas supply to the affected pipeline from the compressor plant.

"The gas supply from the affected pipeline to the main plant would be restored some time late in the evening on Sunday as affected portion of the pipeline has been replaced," PPL sources said.

RESPONSIBILITY CLAIM: Meanwhile, an underground organization, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), has claimed responsibility for last night's attack in Sui. An man telephoned newspapers offices from an unknown place and said the attack was in the reaction to a gang-rape of lady doctor serving in the PPL field hospital in Sui.

The elders of the Bugti tribe Wadera Elahi Bakhsh Moundrani Bugti, Wadera Roshan Khan Hotkani Bugti and Secretary-General of the PPL Workers Union Ghulam Sarwar Bugti strongly condemned the rape of the doctor and alleged that an army captain and three members of Defence Security Guards were responsible for this crime.

Speaking at a Press Conference in Sui, they said that despite the passage of a week no action had been taken against the culprits.

They said such an inhuman act could not be tolerated in the Baloch society that was why the people of Sui were demanding strict action against officials involved in the gang-rape of the lady doctor.

They warned that if real culprits were not arrested then more such incidents could take place in Sui and other parts of the province.